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Shake-up set to boost charts
Topic Started: Jan 5 2007, 10:30 AM (249 Views)
JoanneVIP
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THE BOSS
By MARK GOODIER
The voice of UK charts for 10 years
January 05, 2007

THIS Sunday, the UK Top 40 charts as we know and love them will go through one of the most significant changes in their 54-year history.

From now on, any songs downloaded on a computer, as well as the ones that are bought in the shops, will be eligible for the No1 spot.

Think about that for a minute. So instead of, say, 100 records competing to fill the Top 40, around 3million songs will be fighting for the coveted top spot.

So alongside the likes of Westlife, Coldplay and Robbie Williams, you’ll have artists as diverse as Pink Floyd, Van Morrison and Elvis Presley all vying for the Top Ten

It’s a great move that I hope will put the vibrancy and the magic back into the Top 40.

New rules specify that for a song to be eligible for the charts it no longer has to be backed up by a physical single available in the shops.





So essentially, the charts you tune into on a Sunday evening will be an absolute barometer of exactly what the nation is listening to, not what the record labels have decided to release. It’s a breath of fresh air as far as I am concerned.

By the late Nineties, the record industry had all but killed off the music charts by engineering it to their own ends.

They marketed and released records in such a way that they could predict exactly what was going to be in the Top 5. However, the punters got savvy and lost interest.

The changes put the charts back in the hands of the punters. For example, if an advert comes on telly with a great soundtrack, like the great jeans commercials of the Eighties with the likes of Louis Armstrong and Jackie Wilson, then it’s likely those old tracks will go back into the charts.

And if The Beatles back catalogue is made available digitally for download, you could have a Top 20 made up entirely of great Fab Four records.

It also creates an opening for quirky and innovative records like White Town’s Your Woman in 1997, made by some bloke in his bedroom and picked up by radio.

And if there is a big cultural event, for instance the death of a big star, then there’s every likelihood there will be a surge of downloads that will push them posthumously to No1.

A band like the Towers Of London may suddenly enter the charts on the back of Donny Tourette being in Celebrity Big Brother.

The downside is, of course, we could also see 2002s dreadful No3 DJ by H & Claire back in the charts for the same reason.

The change will be gradual but some bands will benefit straight away. I have heard that Snow Patrol’s brilliant track Chasing Cars is going back in the Top 10 this week, despite the fact it was released last July.

Over the coming months I think the changes will reignite the nation’s passion and change the face of the charts forever.

The great British public love to be surprised, and that is something the old Top 40 used to do.

I reckon the magic of listening to the Top 40 on a Sunday evening is back on track.

Mark Goodier presented the Radio 1 Top 40 singles charts from 1991-2002. He now hosts shows on Radio 2 and Classic FM.

Source The Sun
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jemma
Westlife Fanatic
Does this mean it might be harder for Westlife to get to number one if more people are going to download beatles etc
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Villy Feehily*McDaid
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Villy
I hope not :( ... Maybe in that way songs will be leaving the top40 very quickly though as so many songs will be fighting to get in.
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JoanneVIP
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THE BOSS
yeah i was wondering that myself actually. I guess time will tell. Westlife were number one in the first download chart so here hoping it wont matter to them
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ShouneesFilan
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Westlife Angel
oh no,that's a tough one.i think it's not fair at all,coz buying the singles are much more legal and out right fair competition.Boys good luck :(
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JoanneVIP
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THE BOSS
yeah good luck to ourboysx
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